Deadly fight over girl

The headline, Deadly fight over girl, is apparently unrelated to what actually had happened. Quoted from the second article indicated in the following:

“Kamysz [the mother how did the killing] had been in a legal dispute over visitation rights with Sydney’s father at the time of the murder-suicide, but attorneys for both sides said the fight was not unusually bitter or contested.”

Chicago Sun-Times

CRYSTAL LAKE | Mom apparently kills 7-year-old, walks in front of train

August 30, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters/drozek@suntimes.com ldonovan@suntimes.com

A young Crystal Lake mother apparently suffocated her 7-year-old daughter, then killed herself by stepping in front of a speeding Metra train, McHenry County authorities said Wednesday.

The deaths happened Tuesday in the midst of a legal fight 28- year-old Magdalene Kamysz was waging over the daughter police suspect she killed.

Sydney Kamysz was found dead in her Crystal Lake home about 6 p.m. after a McHenry County deputy coroner went there to notify relatives that Magdalene Kamysz had been killed by a train about four hours earlier.

The deaths appear to be a murder-suicide, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said, adding the investigation is continuing.

“The focus of the investigation, based on the information we have at this time, is on the mother,” Nygren said….(Full Story)

Follow-up:

McHenry Co. deaths ruled homicide-suicide

Coroner’s jury makes decision in death of mother, daughter

By Charles Keeshan | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 11/8/2007 12:28 AM

A Crystal Lake woman murdered her 7-year-old daughter and then tucked the girl in bed, her arms wrapped around two stuffed animals, before driving to a set of railroad tracks and stepping in front of a train to take her own life, according to testimony Thursday before a McHenry County Coroner’s jury.

The testimony led the jury to rule the Aug. 28 death of Sydney Kamysz a homicide caused by asphyxia and that of her 28-year-old mother, Magdalene Kamysz, a suicide, closing the books on a case that shocked and saddened those who knew the bright and well-liked little girl.

Sydney, who was about to enter the second grade at Husmann Elementary School in Crystal Lake, was found dead in her bedroom when authorities went there while investigating the apparent suicide of her mother.

The girl’s body showed no sign of injury except some bruising inside her mouth likely caused by her teeth pressing against her lips, Deputy Coroner Robert Locke told the jury. That, he said, is consistent with something being held over somebody’s face to smother….Full story

#MotherMurderSuicide

Deadly fight over girl

Chicago Sun-Times